1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical fiber splicing devices for making multiple butt splices between optical fibers in buffer tubes or cables and in one aspect to an improved optical fiber connector for making splices between optical fibers with the splices being held together for convenience in organizing the splices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The art is becoming replete with devices for centering optical fibers for the purpose of aligning ends of optical fibers for making butt splices between the ends of fibers for continued transmission of light rays along the fibers. The optical fiber used in the telecommunications industry is mostly a single mode glass fiber. This fiber typically contains a 8 .mu.m.+-.1 .mu.m diameter central glass core through which the optical signal is transmitted. The core is surrounded by a glass cladding having a diameter of 125 .mu.m.+-.3 .mu.m. The cladding has a slightly different index of refraction than the core.
There are a number of prior art devices which have been designed to make permanent connections or splices in single mode glass fiber. These prior art devices are used to make the splice and then the splices are placed in a tray or held by bundling to attempt to organize the splices and the slack fiber.
Some of the prior are devices for making the butt splices attempt to achieve fiber end centering and alignment by forcing the fibers into a non-conformable "V" groove or between non-conformable rods. These devices function satisfactorily as long as the fibers being spliced are the same diameter. Other splicing devices use resiliently conformable material to achieve fiber centering. Examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,274,708; 4,729,619; 4,391,487; 4,435,038; and 4,593,971. Splices made with these types of devices are then placed in a splice holder of a splice tray as shown in U.S. Pat Nos. 4,373,776; 4,489,830; 4,500,166; and 4,679,896.
A butt splice apparatus for splicing a group of optical fibers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,390. In this apparatus a plurality of optical fibers are spliced simultaneously. The fibers are adhesively bonded in individual non-conformable "V" grooves, then the ends are cut on a common plane. A folding of one half of the tray with one set of fibers onto the other half of the tray about a fold line perpendicular to the common plane places the fiber ends in abutting relationship. This apparatus makes all the splices simultaneously and permanently. However, for the apparatus to function properly and produce a low loss splice all of the optical fibers must be uniform in outside diameter and core position.
The connector of the present invention comprises a plurality of splicing modules each utilizing a splicing element to provide high precision fiber alignment and individual fiber splicing. The splicing is accomplished by the closing of the caps of the splicing modules to afford the splicing of the fibers in the deformable metal splice.